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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director)
Violently beaten on Saturday in the hospital where he worked, a stretcher bearer has since been recovering in intensive care. Her attacker is still on the run. Yet another sign of a system running out of steam? Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician and medical director of Doctissimo, answers us.
A stretcher bearer was still in intensive care yesterday evening, seriously injured after being beaten on Saturday in Challans hospital, in Vendée, the Sables-d’Olonne prosecutor’s office announced this Sunday. An announcement which further added to the tension reigning today at the hospital.
The perpetrator is still on the run
What do we know about this attack? Marc Noizet, president of SAMU-Urgences de France, revealed the details the next day. “On Saturday, at the end of the morning, several people who were accompanying two patients in this department began to get angry because they were frustrated, either by the waiting time or because they were not given allowed to enter the department alongside patients. In the escalation of anger, the stretcher bearer, who was only passing by to take his break in the parking lot, was savagely attacked. A gratuitous and violent altercation, at the origin of “serious injuries which mean he is still in intensive care today.”
According to the prosecutor, Gwenaëlle Cotto, the victim was hit by “a single person who was accompanied by others” to the hospital. “This person fled and we are doing everything we can to arrest him”, she clarified. An investigation for “violence against medical personnel” was opened.
A complaint was also filed by the director of the Vendée hospital group
An “odious and cowardly” act for Frédéric Valletoux
The event is unfortunately part of a permanent tension felt in the hospital environment, increasingly weakening caregivers.
In a message on “heinous and cowardly act”.
“A hospital is a sanctuary. No violence towards the nursing staff cannot be tolerated.”he said, providing support to the victim.
For Marc Noizet, the fact that “caregivers can be the object of violence” is also an intolerable idea. “We cannot be the variable of the anxiety, aggressiveness or violence of patients and those who accompany them.”
All my support to the stretcher bearer #EMERGENCIES seriously injured by a user in Challans, in Vendée.
I strongly condemn this heinous and cowardly act.
A hospital is a sanctuary. No violence towards healthcare staff can be tolerated. https://t.co/22MS98G9DD
— Frédéric Valletoux (@fredvalletoux) April 6, 2024
An aggravating circumstance, recalls Dr Gérald Kierzek
Unfortunately, this type of gratuitous and violent act is difficult to predict, warns Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician and medical director of Doctissimo.
“There are two types of violence in emergency rooms: incivility linked to waiting, stress, pain, or lack of space… And then gratuitous violence, that is to say pure violence , which comes from people who are sociopaths… There, we are more in this framework. And having a security guard, for example, would probably not have changed anything.”
Our expert testifies to this himself, estimating that “we are now in a society that no longer tolerates frustration or authority. Even within the walls of a place of care“.
“There must of course be an exemplary sanction in this case. And also remember that hitting a caregiver is an aggravating circumstance. It is also displayed today in all waiting rooms.”